by By Keir Scott in Paris , The Express

Tsonga needed to retain his title to deny Verdasco a place at the prestigious eight-man tournament in London later this month, but found Nadal far too consistent and fell to a 7-5, 7-5 defeat. The world No 2 struggled in his first two matches, saving five match points against Nicolas Almagro before edging out Tommy Robredo, but his form was much improved yesterday.

Tsonga dominated much of the first set but could not take advantage of five break points and Nadal broke him in the 11th game. The second set took on a similar pattern, and Nadal again broke at 5-5 thanks to a poor game from Tsonga.

The 23-year-old confidently served out for victory and will face Novak Djokovic in a juicy semi-final today after the third seed also did his bit for Verdasco's cause.

Djokovic was a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 winner against Robin Soderling, who would have moved into this year's top eight by reaching the final in Bercy.

Serb Djokovic admitted he was not at his best and said: "I'm very pleased to go through, it was a big struggle. Mostly I was fighting myself.

"In the second set I was not moving well, letting him control the match but in the end I managed to focus."

Nadal and Djokovic have met 19 times, with the Spaniard holding a clear lead at 14-5.

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